MILWAUKEE -- It is the time of year for back-to-school health check-ups and physicals, and an important part of that, especially for teenagers, is a vaccination to guard against bacterial meningitis.

MENINGITIS Meningitis: What Is It? | FAQS Link: National Meningitis Association SYMPTOMS High fever Headache Stiff neck Nausea/Vomiting Sleepiness Confusion Source: Centers For Disease Control And Prevention

But now many young patients eligible for the vaccine are being temporarily turned away because there isn't enough of the vaccine to go around.

"We would consider what we're seeing now to be a minimal supply," Milwaukee Health Commissioner Devan Baker said.

The supply is so minimal that many local health centers are completely out of the vaccine.

Bacterial meningitis is a rare disease, but one that's often a concern on college campuses.

A Concordia University student was treated for the disease earlier this year.

At about the same time, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was changing its guidelines for vaccinations.

The CDC had recommended the vaccine for all incoming college freshmen and had suggested that high school students could also get it. But in March, the guidelines were expanded to include children as young as 11 or 12.

The CDC said it recommends routine vaccination of young adolescents.

But while more young people are eligible to get it, the manufacturing is phasing out the old vaccine and creating a new, longer-lasting one that hasn't yet hit the market. That is creating a shortage.

"This temporary shortage is something that, while we should be concerned, is nothing unusual, and I do believe the new vaccine will provide broader coverage," Baker said.

Baker added that teenagers who don't get the vaccine during their back-to-school checkups should check back.

"I think they should work with school officials and their own primary care doctor to schedule that as soon as the vaccine is available," Baker said.

That is expected to happen by late summer or early fall.

Area health centers told 12 News that they have been distributing information about meningitis to parents whose children have not been able to get vaccinated due to the shortage and reminding them to reschedule when the new vaccine becomes available.

Bacterial meningitis kills about 300 people in the United States each year.